Injured Achilles----Hi everyone...new to the forum. I went back through the archives to try to find something similar to what I have been going through and couldn't find anything. I am a high school basketball ref and love to work out four times a week. Last Feb I came down with shin splints in both legs from over doing it and probably reffing wayyyy too many games. I battled through the shin splints by having them taped before games and getting in the cold plunge at my gym as much as possible. Once our season was over with at the end of March, I took some time off and did nothing until the first of June. Went to ref camp for two days in the middle of June and did just a few games while I there and started to feel the shins acting up again. Took another three months off and just worked on trying to strengthen my entire lower leg region both front and back....did NO running whatsoever. Decided the first of Oct that it was time to give it a try just on the treadmill and for a short distance. As I was stretching I felt what seemed like soemthing was tearing in my right achilles area...kind of like a scab opening up. I have never had a problem with the achilles or ever felt any pain there before. Had a good friend who is a PT look at it and she said it bursitis with maybe a little bit of scar tissue. She thought it probably came from the fact that I was running awkardly during my shin splints and it caused another injury. Went to my doctor two weeks ago and he said there are real fine muscle fibers that run across the tendon that may have torn and yes, the bursa sac was inflammed. Gave me a cortisone shot in the soft tissue (bursa sac) ONLY...not in the tendon. I am going to PT three times a week with ultrasound and I can still feel the pulling/tearing feeling across the tendon when I try to stretch my calf. Cant get into the specialist till the middle of Dec so he said to try to jog litely or until I feel any pain. Tried it last night for the first time and felt fine...no pain while jogging. Not sure what to think or how much I should push it. I have changed shoes several times especially for reffing. I am 42 yrs old so I know the healing process takes longer for someone my age. Any recommendations??? Thanks in advance

Take things really easy! The worst thing you could do right now would be to push too hard too fast and inflame the bursitis again. Wait until you see the specialist in a week and then let him advise you on how to build up your running.